I decided to head off today towards Estonia. I had seen as much of St Petersburg as I wanted to. Ilya wanted me to leave with him and so I was up at 7.30 to get showered and packed. It took some time to use his net connection to see if I could find accommodation in Estonia and Kingisepp (close to the border to Estonia) and so we were late leaving (sorry Ilya).
It was a gray, drizzling morning and it took a while to get on the right road out of St Petersburg. I biked on a 3 lane motor way for about 20km. There was then a smaller road which Google showed as a short cut which was not a busy road. Off I went only to find a dead end and I had to head back to the Motorway. Oh well, what's another 15km when you are biking from NZ to the UK? Fortunately, I then chose another road which also looked like a motorway on my map which was more direct to Kingisepp. It turned out to be a single lane road and although very busy it was much better than the motorway. It passed through villages and small towns that were very similar to those I traveled through in Siberia.
I had hoped that one of the two Couchsurfers in Kingisepp would be able to put me up but it did not work out. I wanted a good nights sleep out of the rain as I needed to catch up on sleep and so I spent about 1.5 hours trying to find a hotel in town. I tried all of the 5 hotels only to find that the cheap ones were full and the others where out of my budget. It meant that I had to bike out of town at dusk and find somewhere to put up my tent where people could not see me. I hate having to do that when it is getting dark. It can be very tiring having to always find some where each night when traveling. After nearly 1 year of doing it I am ready to just stay in one place for sometime.
I managed to find a forest where I could put up my tent out of view and managed to put it up while I could still just about see. I cooked some rice for diner and phoned my Mum and friend Sarah on Skype as I had a good internet connection on my phone. It was lovely to catch up :-)
I did not sleep very well as I could not find any flat ground for my tent and so it was very uncomfortable. I also kept on waking up cold. I will have to get some more sleep at some point.
I did not particularly enjoy the ride today. I am cycling to see lovely parts of the world and areas that are different in scenery and culture to the UK. Today I could have been in the UK apart from the fact that I was on the right side of the road and the signs were in Russian. The climate was the same as autumn in the UK and the scenery very similar. It was wet and gray and boring. I am interesting in seeing other countries in Europe and it will be interesting to see how it changes to go from countries that were behind the Iron Curtain but it is no where near as interesting as seeing countries that are totally different to the UK (like India and Mongolia). I am feeling ready to get home now and I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family. I am also very much a summer person and I am not enjoying the wet and cold weather, especially when camping.
I did 152km today and my legs did not even feel like they had done any exercise. It was flat and tarmaced. In comparison to Mongolia it was an absolute breeze. I am hoping that if I can do 100km on average I can be home for mid October.
I am now less than 30km from the Estonia border. Nearly home....
As today is my last day in Russia these are my thoughts on the country over all : ????????
It was a gray, drizzling morning and it took a while to get on the right road out of St Petersburg. I biked on a 3 lane motor way for about 20km. There was then a smaller road which Google showed as a short cut which was not a busy road. Off I went only to find a dead end and I had to head back to the Motorway. Oh well, what's another 15km when you are biking from NZ to the UK? Fortunately, I then chose another road which also looked like a motorway on my map which was more direct to Kingisepp. It turned out to be a single lane road and although very busy it was much better than the motorway. It passed through villages and small towns that were very similar to those I traveled through in Siberia.
I had hoped that one of the two Couchsurfers in Kingisepp would be able to put me up but it did not work out. I wanted a good nights sleep out of the rain as I needed to catch up on sleep and so I spent about 1.5 hours trying to find a hotel in town. I tried all of the 5 hotels only to find that the cheap ones were full and the others where out of my budget. It meant that I had to bike out of town at dusk and find somewhere to put up my tent where people could not see me. I hate having to do that when it is getting dark. It can be very tiring having to always find some where each night when traveling. After nearly 1 year of doing it I am ready to just stay in one place for sometime.
I managed to find a forest where I could put up my tent out of view and managed to put it up while I could still just about see. I cooked some rice for diner and phoned my Mum and friend Sarah on Skype as I had a good internet connection on my phone. It was lovely to catch up :-)I did not sleep very well as I could not find any flat ground for my tent and so it was very uncomfortable. I also kept on waking up cold. I will have to get some more sleep at some point.
I did not particularly enjoy the ride today. I am cycling to see lovely parts of the world and areas that are different in scenery and culture to the UK. Today I could have been in the UK apart from the fact that I was on the right side of the road and the signs were in Russian. The climate was the same as autumn in the UK and the scenery very similar. It was wet and gray and boring. I am interesting in seeing other countries in Europe and it will be interesting to see how it changes to go from countries that were behind the Iron Curtain but it is no where near as interesting as seeing countries that are totally different to the UK (like India and Mongolia). I am feeling ready to get home now and I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family. I am also very much a summer person and I am not enjoying the wet and cold weather, especially when camping.
I am now less than 30km from the Estonia border. Nearly home....
As today is my last day in Russia these are my thoughts on the country over all : ????????
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